Mainstream society in the West associated the witch with malfeasance for centuries. In the late 20th century, many were eager to rehabilitate this image. Witches, the books said, always “harm none,” and curses are never spoken.

While, no doubt, hearts were in the right place, this ultimately led to a surge in what we call “toxic positivity.” Toxic positivity ignores or suppresses undesirable and uncomfortable feelings, intuition, and characteristics.

Like a wound left untended, this prevents healing, the problem festers, and can overwhelm. This sort of spiritual bypassing does little to deepen our craft.

Secular therapists and psychologists tend to agree that one must face one’s own shadow - the uncomfortable, shameful, messy parts of oneself. In recent years, witches have begun to emphasize the importance of this shadow work.

Freuler speaks often of energy and vibration, two terms many associate with the “love and light” crowd, or, at very least, would consider “New Age.”

This book smashes that particular stereotype - Freuler frankly acknowledges that “negative energy” can be quite useful. She shows that the energy model, whether taken metaphorically or literally, needn’t limit a practitioner’s range of expression.

Freuler emphasizes adaptability in ritual. While there’s plenty of information about blood magic and similar topics, the author offers alternatives. In fact, Freuler recommends sacrificing live plants (such as flowers grown for the purpose). This shows extraordinary creativity and awareness, and I was happy to read it.

Kate Freuler displays unflinching social (and ethical) awareness. She’s a perfect guide for beginners starting shadow work. She draws a direct parallel between the individual’s trauma as microcosm and the greater macrocosmic landscape of societal inequality.

An in-depth exploration of the latter in a magical context could fill many volumes. I’m glad to see Freuler, and others, recently, have made this connection and sought to understand it.

I found it extremely satisfying to read such a wide array of truly baneful workings in print. So many books that do share curses and hexes either frame them all as bindings or as “karma spells.”

While Freuler includes these options, she also shares actual hexes and curses. There are, for example, several spells to cause impotence included here. I personally can think of situations where they could be justified. Draw your own conclusions, and formulate your own ethics.

Please be aware that this book contains unsettling content, such as use of blood in ritual, dead insects, and animal parts. If you find that disturbing, skip this one.

There’s plenty in here that I’d never attempt, but that I found worthwhile to understand. Not everyone will find this enriching, though, and I realize that.

Freuler’s take on crystal and gemstone magic reads as much more grounded and researched than typical. The mere acknowledgement that some stones can be used to harm was great to see.

Definitely giving this book five out of five stars. Very pleased, and highly recommended. I will say I can’t recommend it to absolute beginners, though, but most seasoned practitioners will find it helpful.

In Of Blood and Bones, Kate Freuler delves into the aspects of witchcraft that many people have questions about but are afraid to ask. Some of these topics involve cursing and hexing, some of it shadow work, some of it working with blood or bones. Many of these topics would be frowned upon as part of discussion with a typical Wiccan. You just hear that they are not to be done, and that's the end of it. The author presents the material in a way that is easy to understand and includes the ethics behind the topic as well as some ways to work with the subject in a safe way. The part about shadow work was of particular interest to me. I also liked that in the parts where she discussed how some practitioners use animal bones or even blood, that she gave ethical and vegetarian/vegan ways to work with these energies. I thought it was very respectfully done.

Of Blood and Bones is focused on shadow magic. The focus on this book is balance, that we must accept the dark shadows in ourselves instead of pretending that it doesn't exist. I do love that they addressed the moral and ethics behind working with shadow magic. I wasn't expecting to like this book as much as I did. After being pagan for more than a decade it isn't often that I read a book about magic that teaches me anything. I learned a lot from this book and will be buying my own copy so I can read it again.

4 stars.

A good source of information and things to do/make. Some really interesting points. Seems like a good source for those who want to bring aspects of the dark moon and shadow work into their practice.

I found this one to be super interesting! Shadow magick isn't something I am overly familiar with, but I found that the author did a good job of giving clear instructions for spells , curses and hexes. As well as diving into some more unsavory aspects of magic. Quite an interesting read indeed!

This was a very refreshing perspective to witchcraft. I recommend this book to all of those who are tired of the mainstream mentality that to be spirituality evolved you need to be positive and forgiving at all times of the day. I think this book did a great job in challenging this notion and focusing on our darkest side – not to fight it, but to embrace it.

I must warn though, this book deals with taboo magic – curses, hexes, spells with blood, bones, animal parts, human remains. Now, in writing this review I’m not particularly saying do this – I myself do not. I’m saying merely to listen.

I know animal sacrifices and spells that involve death are a huge debate within the witchcraft community. I’d just like to remind people that a lot of cultures and religions that deal with those manners are non-white. I think one priority we must have in our paths as witches is to challenge the White perspective as much as possible, and consider our roles in the western dominance of spirituality. Just a thought.

But on to the book itself, it’s divided in four parts. The first is my favourite and has lunar magic as basis, or better yet, the dark moon specifically. The dark moon is that one to three day period right after the waning gibbous and before the new moon, and it’s the perfect liminal breach to do shadow work and dark magic.

This book presents rituals, spells and some correspondences to incorporate this energy into our practice, as well as deities from pantheons the author is familiar with. She gives a basis into shadow work and explores the mentality necessary to face our shadow side.

Just in case you’re not familiar with the lunar phase, the dark moon is the period when the moon is resting. It goes dark and quiet and we can’t see it in the sky, it’s the stagnant period that comes at the end of every cycle so we can embark into the next with all of our shit figured out after some autoanalysis and introspection.

Astronomy and moon calenders don’t distinguish between the dark moon and the new moon, and neither do some practitioners, but I find them to have completely different energies.

Even if you don’t use this dark moon energy, you can’t deny that it’s highly interesting. And if you disagree you can of course just jump to part two.

Part two is when the taboo really starts. It focus on magic that uses blood, bloodily fluids, animal parts and so forth. It gives historical context for these practices as well as safety warnings, where to ethically find those materials and a spell list. I skimmed through the sections that didnt interest me like menstrual blood, but the author provides ‘vanilla’ alternatives for those who don’t want their hands dirty. For instance a spell that requires wing bone from a bird can be replaced by a feather instead, and so everyone is happy.

Part three delves into manipulative and sympathetic magic – curses, interfering with other people’s will, imitation/puppets – and part four has a focus on death and how to honour a cycle’s end. What I found really interesting was the historical and cultural context provided for practices that have a bad reputation, so we can judge it less and understand it more.

The book also discusses curses vs binding, the ethics of witchcraft, bone oracles, death and graveyards, dark deities communication, puppets, animal archetypes, the shadow side of the elements and crystals, funeral rites and more. There’s also some recomendation of additional reading material if you wish to continue with your study on the subjects raised here.

Overrall, even if you don’t use the spells and practices in the book, it’s still valuable. It offered a refreshing take on the craft that I feel has been desperately lacking with the good vibes movement nowadays. Witchcraft is deeply personal, it’s a tool used for spiritual growth, and we should explore it as we should face our feelings: in all its facets, head on.

I never received a copy of this book, which I find very unfortunate. It looked like a very interesting book!

This book takes you on a walk to the darkside. It is a beautiful and engaging book.The author's knowledge of the craft is incredible. This book should not be used by the beginner. It is easy to read and the book gives you clear and concise directions for spells , curses and hexes. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I definitely recommend this book for your collection. It is a must have.

A very explanatory book that involves the most controversial topics and with the worst fame when it comes to witchcraft. From animal remains, human bones, organs (and their respective substitutes) to questions of ethics, safety, legality and morals, the author offers an incomparable guide for those who want to employ the darkest branches of magic.

I've had to wait a while before I was able to download this book. The title made it sound very interesting, but alas, it wasn't in reading. Yes, there are few spells, some information that might be worth it, but it doesn't have that twist of dark/sinister magic that you'd expect with a title like this.

I couldn't download the file so what I did was buy a copy for my shelf and use. All i can say is i am glad i did! This book talks about many many subjects not typically found elsewhere due to it's very nature. I found it very informative and I could not put it down. Since buying my copy i have read it twice, I believe that no information is inherently wrong or bad and the author does the community a service by talking about these topics.

All in all I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it.

An interesting and informative book that helped to discover a lot of new things and gave me food for thought.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

I am not able to give feedback on this book as I was never given a downloadable copy. I have asked net galley about this and they haven't sent a fixed copy of it yet. please advise.

Sorry but I can't download the book and therefore won't be able to provide a review, I really hope you fix this issue and I really wanted to read this novel so I am very disappointed and dissatisfied with this problem.

Want this off my reading score. Can’t download because it says it’s unavailable. I waited weeks to see if the issue would resolve. Never had this problem with this publisher before. I did mark it not going to review but it doesn’t come off my reading score then and that bothers me because I read and review every title I get. Sorry to be a bother. Hope this issues gets fixed so I can continue to read titles from this wonderful publisher.